Improvement in pumps for deep wells



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL H. EARLY, OF LYNGHBURG, VIRGINIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN PUMPS FOR DEEP WELLS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 53,1 28, dated March 13, 1866,

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, SAMUEL H. EARLY, of Lynchburg, in the State of Virginia, have iuvented a new and useful Improvement in Pumps; and I do hereby declare that the following is ka full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification.

My invention has reference more particularly t0 the Salt and oil wells where pumps are used. In these the practice heretofore has been to place the pumplboxes in the tubing with which the well is lined. Between this tubing and the sides ot' the well as left by the borer there is a space, in which spring-water can descend to the salt-water or oil below where it is not wanted. To prevent this it is customary to pack the tubing below the inlet of the springs which it is desired to exclude by surrounding it there with a wrappiu g consisting of a bag filled with linseed, which, ex-

panding when wet, forms a packing that retains the objectionable water above it; but the jar of the pumping tends constantly to wear and injure this packing until it becomes leaky, and the water from above it passes through, to the detriment, ifnot to the destruction, of the well. When the tubing is withdrawn so that the pump may be repaired this packing has been found to interpose serious difficulty, and in some instances wells have even been rendered useless in this way. Under the most favorable circumstances the withdrawing of the tubing causes loss of time and a delay that it is important to avoid.

In both salt and oil wells there is a iiow of gas which is inconvenient and injurious. Entering the well below the packing around the tube, it cannot escape upward between the tube and the sides of the well; and entering the chamber between the upper and lower boxes of the pump, it interferes with the action of the pump and operates a general derangement. The flow of few wells requiring pumping is equal to the capacity of the pump, so that when the plunger or upper box is lifted the chamber between them is not filled with liquid, but gas enters it, and when the plunger descends and the lower valve is closed there is a space of time until the plunger is lifted again during which neither water nor oil can enter the chamber.

The difficulties here enumerated l propose t0 overcome by my invention. For this purpose two things are necessary: first, to make the packing permanent, so that it can neither be affected bythe pumping nor require removal; second, to prevent the gas from enteringthe chamberof the pump between the upper and lower boxes along with thc oil and salt-water without impairing the efficiency of the pump.

To accomplish the first I make my pump of two tubes-one, in which is the pump-chainber and upper and lower boxes, reaching to the bottom. of the well and resting on it, and the other reaching so far down only as to have its lower rim below the inlets of the water which it is desired to exclude.

My invention is best applied where the well is bored with an offset or shoulder below the inlets last aforesaid, formed by using asmaller borer in the lower than in the upper part of the well, for on this shoulder the outer tube of the pump may rest and the packing be at the bottom of it, supported by the offset against the downward pressure of the water above it; or the well may he uniform in its diameter, in which case there should be a flange at the lower end of the outer tube on which the packing would rest, the whole tube being sustained from the top by a flange there, or by any other well-known mechanical contrivance.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents portions of a well, the sides of the bore being shown by the irregular lines, where the springs are indicated bylateral lines.

AA A is the outer tube of the pump, resting on the shoulder C, where is seen the packing D. B B is the inner tube, extending to and closed at the bottom of the well at M. It will be seen that it is separate from the outer tube. rlhe pumping-gear is seen in the lower section ofB B, where E is the plunger or upper box; F, the lower box, from the valve in which projects downward the tube G into the chamber I below the lower box. In this chamber, and communicating with the space between the inner tube and the sides of the bore, are the openi'ngs h h IL h, all of which must be above the lower end of the tube G.

Fig. 2 represents an alternative construction, where the well is of a uniform diameter from Yto the salt-water or oil. It will be seen, too,

that the salt-water or oil entering the well below the packing linds its way into the chamber I through the holes 7L 71. h h, from whence it is pumped through the tube G. Should gas enter the well from the sides or bottom, it will ascend through the space X between the inner tube, B, and the sides of the well into the open air, passing as it goes through the space between the inner and outer tubes above the packing at B. Should any enter the chamber I, it can only do so through the holes h 7L h L above the bottom of the tube G, and must rise and escape through the same holes. Without this tube Gr it will be at once seen that the gas entering at the holes hh h h would pass upward into the pump at K along with the oil or salt-water, and so cause one ot' the troubles whichitis the objectof myinvention to obviate. It will also be seen that not only the chamber Iforms a reservoir to pump from, but that the space between the inner tube, B, and the well is a reservoir also, in which the salt-water or oil may accumulate, facilitating as it rises the action of the pump; and, further, it will be seen that if the well is a flowing one, into which a pump has been introduced, the space between the inner tube, B, and the sides ofthe well, and between the two tubes A and B above C, afford it a way of escaping to the surface.

In the case of salt-wells the bore or diameter of the well is less in the lower portion of it, and here it would be the outer tube which descended the lowest or was the longest, as shown in Fig. 3, the diameter of the tube being diminished to correspond with the diameter of the bore of the well and the packing being below the springs intended to be eX,- cluded. The inner tube containing the pump proper would in this case be supported where the change in the diameter of the outer tube takes place; and here, in place of closing the bottom at M ot' the chamber I, Fig. l, it may be left open and a cup be placed, as shown at Fig. 3, below the chamber, the lip of the cup being above the level of the bottom of the tube G, so that any gas flowing in, in place of passing downward over the edge ot' the cup to ascend into the pipe G, Figs. l and 3, would pass upward between the two tubes tothe surface, while the salt-water owing into the cup would be pumped out.

The essence of myinvention, however, is independent of the actual position of the pump in the well, or whether one tube or the other is the longest, or whereabouts on the outer tube the packing is placed.

What I claim. and desire to secure by Let- .fters Patent, is-

rlhe combination with and arrangement of a pump-tube having the interior tube, G, and the openings 7L in relation to each other and to the valves, of the tube A and packing D,- all substantially as and for the purpose described.

Witnesses: SAML. H. EARLY.

JNO. H. B. LATROBE, FERDINAND G. LATROBE. 

